Ethics panel reviews complaint in Bible brouhaha

A House Ethics Committee reviewed evidence of a Democratic representative accused of stealing Capitol Bibles and engaging in disorderly behavior.

The committee didn’t recommend any disciplinary action during its hearing regarding a complaint filed against Rep. Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton, D-Tucson, after she was recorded on video removing Bibles from the House’s members’ lounge and hiding them.

Ethics Chairman Rep. Joe Chaplik, R-Scottsdale, said the committee is taking the matter under advisement and will publish a report with recommendations before the Legislature reconvenes on June 12.

Reps. Justin Heap, R-Mesa, David Marshall, R-Snowflake, and Lupe Diaz, R-Benson, filed the complaint on May 1 after news outlets broadcast the footage of Stahl-Hamilton taking Bibles from the members’ lounge. She apologized to her colleagues shortly after the incident became public knowledge and said her actions were a “peaceful” and “playful” demonstration to protest what she felt was a lack of separation of church and state.

Stahl-Hamilton wasn’t present at the hearing May 25, and Republicans on the Ethics Committee expressed frustration that she wasn’t there to answer questions. She was represented by attorneys and Democratic former state lawmakers, Domingo DeGrazia and Diego Rodriguez.

DeGrazia and Rodriguez declined to answer several questions about Stahl-Hamilton’s actions from Republicans and referenced her apology and statements she publicly made about hiding the Bibles.

“I think it would’ve been better for Representative Stahl Hamilton to be here to answer some questions on her own,” Chaplik said during the hearing.

DeGrazia said it was better for Stahl Hamilton to not be present at the hearing and said there was “no reason” for the committee hearing to take place with all the information and factual history of the incident being known to the committee. Because the hearing wasn’t a court hearing, it was up to committee leadership to determine what was relevant to the complaint.

“We don’t have the ability to challenge any of the evidence in contravention of every type of due process that you can imagine,” DeGrazia said.

The attorneys attempted to question House Sergeant at Arms Chuck Fitzgerald about how the video footage was captured, edited and stored, but Chaplik determined their line of questioning was irrelevant to whether Stahl-Hamilton engaged in disorderly behavior. Fitzgerald testified that he first noticed the missing Bibles and was instructed by House Chief of Staff Michael Hunter to find the culprit after Bibles went missing multiple times.

Fitzgerald said he set up the hidden video camera in the members’ lounge and removed it after presenting evidence to Hunter from April 10 of Stahl-Hamilton removing the Bibles, although he didn’t specify exactly when he removed the camera. That same video footage was first broadcast by Arizona’s Family on April 25.

“The only thing we’re here for today is apparently the presentation. So, they can bring it to the public, which follows absolutely in line with when they captured the video,” DeGrazia said. “It shows a pattern of political retribution.”

Stahl-Hamilton filed the complaint earlier in the session that led to the expulsion of former Rep. Liz Harris. Both Marshall and Diaz voted to expel Harris after the Ethics committee determined she lied to the committee and impugned several elected officials by inviting testimony to a legislative hearing that accused them of taking bribes.

Heap voted not to expel Harris, but he told Ethics Chairman Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, that he would’ve filed the same complaint had Grantham hid the Bibles and he didn’t attempt to “set up” Stahl-Hamilton, only learning about the incident with most other people when it was broadcast on April 25.

“I am not able to file ethics complaints on incidents I’m not aware of before I know the fact,” Heap said. “What was particularly disturbing to me was not simply that the Bibles were removed, but the photos of where these Bibles were placed.”

The House released photos of Bibles underneath couch cushions and one inside a community refrigerator used by members. Heap said he’s disturbed by having to wonder if he sat on his own sacred text and said he felt that his and other members’ beliefs were disrespected.

The Arizona Capitol Times earlier reported that Stahl-Hamilton said her actions were “impulsive” and she said in her apology that she should have spoken to House leadership about her feelings about the Bibles and the separation of church and state before acting.

But Grantham dismissed her apology during the ethics hearing. He called her defense of the actions being a protest of church and state a “red herring” and said he didn’t believe having the Bible or any other religious text be available for members to read coerces them into a particular religion.

“To me this is a total joke decoy,” Grantham said.

Stahl-Hamilton has explained previously that she felt the Bible was being used as a “weapon” by the Legislature, which motivated her to hide the Bibles. The committee also reviewed evidence of Stahl-Hamilton, an ordained Presbyterian minister, discussing Biblical scripture as talking points about the border in 2021, but the committee didn’t discuss it any further.

Rodriguez said the only evidence of Stahl-Hamilton’s intent that the committee has is her public apology and statements she’s made where she said it was a peaceful protest and prank.

After the committee makes a recommendation, an individual member can make a motion to discipline Stahl-Hamilton as they feel necessary. An expulsion is unlikely because it requires two-thirds of the chamber and Democrats support Stahl-Hamilton. Republicans could censure Stahl-Hamilton on a party line vote.